Saraswati river origin and extinction.

1. The word paleo-channel is formed from the words "paleo" or "old," and
channel; i.e., a paleo-channel is an old channel. Paleo-channels are deposits
of unconsolidated sediments or semi-consolidated sedimentary rocks
deposited in ancient, currently inactive river and stream channel systems.
These are typical riverine geomorphic features in a location representing
drainage streams, rivers, rivulets which were flowing either ephemeral
orperennial during the past time and now stands either buried or lost or
shifted due to tectonic, geomorphologic, anthropogenic process/activities, as
well as climatic changes. When a channel ceases to be part of an active river
system, it becomes a paleo-channel. Paleo-channels are also identified as
remnants of stream channels cut in older rocks/sediments and filled by
younger overlying sediments, representing the distribution of valley systems
as these existed at a given geological time in the past (Bates and
Jackson,1980).
What is a Paleo Channel?

2. Neotectonics: The study of surficial evidences of tectonic activity which have a
very short geological history i.e. since Neogene-Quaternary times.
Geomorphic Markers: Identifiable geomorphic features or surfaces in response
to tectonic activity are called geomorphic markers.
Qualitative Markers: field evidences of geomorphic landforms
that serve as evidences to neo-tectonism
Quantitative Markers: measurements are calculated from the
satellite data and maps

3. CASE STUDY OF SARASWATI RIVER

4. Probable
course of
erstwhile
Saraswati
River through
the Indian
subcontinent
Kurukshetra

5. Mythological River Saraswati
It is the most commonly mentioned river in Rig Veda
Saraswati river from the mountains to the sea is lauded as the place
where the progeny of King Nahusa dwelled
Rig Veda VII 95-2
Five rivers converge in Saraswati along with their streams. The
Saraswati becoming five fold in that region becomes a vast river
Sukla Yajurveda 34-19
Saraswati River Research Lab.
Department of Geology. Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra

6. Courtesy: RRSC,
Jodhpur

7. SARASWATI RIVER HISTORICAL ANTIQUITY
Rig Veda is supposed to have been compiled on the banks of the
Saraswati River at Kurukshetra
Numerous hermitage sites associated with Saraswati River exist in
Pehowa, Kaithal, Kurukshetra and Jind districts besides numerous
references in old religious texts.
Bal Ram, elder brother of Lord Krishna is said to have made a
pigrimage to Gujarat through Sarswati River during Maha Bharat
time.

8. SARASWATI RIVER FROM HAR KI DUN GLACIER TO GULF OF KHAMBAT
DR. A.R. CHAUDHRI

9. Studies by various scholars/agencies indicate beyond doubt
the existence of River Saraswati
• PALAEO CHANNEL SIGNATURES ON SATELLITE
IMAGES
• GEOLOGICAL STUDIES REVEAL THE PRESENCE OF A
MIGHTY HIMALAYAN RIVER
RIVER SARASWATI – SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCES
DR. A.R. CHAUDHRI

10. LISS – III IMAGE SHOWING THE PRESENT DAY DRAINAGE SYSTEM OF NORTHWESTERN INDIA
Courtesy: RRSC,
Jodhpur

11. Saraswati – the ancient river lost in the desert
 NEARLY ten thousand years ago when mighty rivers started flowing down the
Himalayan slopes, western Rajasthan was green and fertile. Great civilizations
prospered in the cool amiable climate on riverbanks of northwestern India.
 The abundant waters of the rivers and copious rains provided ample sustenance for
their farming and other activities. Some six thousand years later, Saraswati, one of
the rivers of great splendour in this region, for reasons long enigmatic, dwindled
and dried up.
 Several other rivers shifted their courses, some of their tributaries were ‘pirated’ by
neigbouring rivers or severed from their main courses. The greenery of Rajasthan
was lost, replaced by an arid desert where hot winds piled up dunes of sand.
 The flourishing civilizations vanished one by one. By geological standards, these are
small-scale events; for earth, in its long 4.5 billion years history, had witnessed
many such changes, some of them even accompanied by wiping out of several living
species.
 But those that occurred in northwest India took place within the span of early
human history affecting the livelihood of flourishing civilizations and driving them
out to other regions.

12.  The Saraswati civilization is evidenced by over 2,000
archaeological sites out of a total of 2,600 sites of the
so-called Indus Valley Civilization, making it
appropriate to call it Saraswati Civilization.
 The geological and glaciological evidences say that a
stream of Sarasvati was supposed to have originated
in Bandapunch located in current Uttarakhand.
Descending through Adibadri, Bhavanipur and
Balchapur in the foothills to the plains, the river took
roughly a southwesterly course, passing through the
plains of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and
finally marching out into the Arabian Sea at Prabhas
Pattan covering the Great Rann of Kuchchh.
Existence of the mightiest Saraswati river

13.  Geologists say that at one time it had at least 3 tributaries,
Shatadru originating from Mt Kailas, Drishadvati from
Shiwalik Hills and the old Yamuna. They flowed together
along a channel, presently known as Ghaggar in Punjab,
Hakra and Nara. Research reports by geologists have
revealed that the drainage systems/ paleochannels of this
area came into existence more than 8000 years back as is
indicated by the age of waters trapped beneath the desert in
Jaisalmer of west Rajasthan.
 Then descending through Adibadri, Bhavanipur and
Balchapur in the foothills to the plains, the river took
roughly a southwesterly course, passing through the plains
of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and finally it is
believed to have marched out into the ancient Arabian Sea
at the Great Rann of Kutch near Prabhas Pattan.

14. SARASVATI RIVER 3000 B.C. FROM HAR-KI-
DUN GLACIER TO THE GULF OF KHAMBAT

15. Origin and course…
 Saraswati river originated in
BANDAPUNCH MASIFF.
 Flowing through
PUNJAB,HARYANA,
RAJASTHAN,GUJARAT and
finally dropping in ARABIAN
SEA at RANN OF KUTCH.
 Believed to had 3 tributaries:-
SHATADRU(SUTLUJ),
DRISHADWATI and
YAMUNA.
 Ghaggar in upper course and
hakira in lower course…

16. Saraswati river at vedic time……

17. Journey of Saraswati river…
 The nemesis that overtook northwestern India’s plenty
and prosperity along with the disappearance of the river
Saraswati, has been a subject engaging several minds
over the last hundred and fifty years.
 However, convincing explanations about what caused all
the changes were available only in the later half of the
current century through data gathered by archaeologists,
geologists, geophysicists, and climatologists using a
variety of techniques.
 Over the last thirty years, considerable volume of
literature have grown on the subject and in this article
some of the salient opinions expressed by various
workers are presented.

18. Reasons may be…..
 Shifting of their courses.
 River piracy:- capture of one river by other.
 Steady decline of waters culminating in drying up of their
beds.
 Tectonism:- uplift,faulting,subsidence,tilting.
 Adverse climatic factors. .
Such catastrophic events overtook Saraswati river in quick
succession, within a short geological span in the
Quaternary period of the Cenozoic era leading to its
decline and disappearance.

19. Decline of Saraswati(5000-3000BC)..
 The decline of Saraswati appears to have commenced between 5000–
3000 BC, probably precipitated by a major tectonic event in the Siwalik Hills
of Sirmur region. Geologic studies indicate destabilizing tectonic events had
occurred around the beginning of Pleistocene, about 1.7 my ago in the entire
Siwalik domain, extending from Potwar in Pakistan to Assam in India, resulting
in massive landslides and avalanches.
 These disturbances, which continued intermittently, were all linked to uplift of
the Himalayas. Presumably, one of these events must have severed the glacier
connection and cut off the supply of glacier melt-waters to this river. As a
result, Saraswati became non-perennial and dependent on monsoon rains.
 Bereft of waters through separation of its tributaries, which shifted or got
captured by other neighbouring river systems, Saraswati remained here and
there as disconnected pools and lakes and ultimately became reduced to a dry
channel bed.
 Lunkaransar, Didwana and Sambhar, the Ranns of Jaisalmer,
Pachpadra etc., are a few of these notable lakes, some of them highly saline
today, the only proof to their freshwater descent being occurrences of
gastropod shells in these lake beds. With the decline and disappearance of
Saraswati, the ancient civilizations, that it supported, also faded.

20. Inferences from geologic, remote sensing and
geophysical surveys
 Considerable tectonic activity connected with Himalayan
orogeny continued during the Holocene and later times
although uplifts to heights of 3000–4000 m were at their
peak during 0.8–0.9 my span.
 The high elevation of the mountains perturbed the wind
circulation patterns and induced climatic changes.
Moderate terrain of earlier times became rugged and
hilly affecting the channels of rivers.
 That was the scenario of the Himalayan region when
Saraswati emerged as a major river about 9000 y
ago and flowed in all splendour during the vedic times
till its decline to an impermanent monsoon dependent
state some 4000 y later.

21. Early comments…..
• Oldham, a geologist of Geological Survey of India, was one of the
first to offer as early as 1886, geological comments about Saraswati.
• According to him, the present dry-bed of Ghaggar River represents
Saraswati’s former course and that its disappearance was
precipitated when its waters were captured by Sutlej and
Yamuna. This view differed from that of several others who felt that
Saraswati vanished due to lack of rainfall.
• However, later-day meteorological research about paleoclimates,
oxygen isotopic studies, thermouminescenct (TL) dating of wind-
borne and river-borne sands in the Thar desert region, radiocarbon
dating of lake-bed deposits and archaeological evidences have all
indicated that during early to middle Pleistocene period this region had
enjoyed wetter climate, heavy rainfall and even recurring floods and that
increase in aridity commenced by mid-Holocene (5000–3000 BC)
only.

22. Last 30 years studies….
 Intense investigations during the last thirty years have yielded fruitful data
obtained through ground and satellite based techniques as well as from
paleoseismic, and paleoclimatic records all of which had enabled a good
reconstruction of the drainage evolution in northwestern India.
 In addition, TL-dating of dry-bed sands and isotopic studies of the
groundwater below these channels provided useful links in these
reconstruction efforts.
 The observed river-shifts and other changes could also be correlated with
specific geologic, seismic or climatic event that occurred during the mid- to
late-Quaternary period.
 Particularly helpful were the information gathered from LANDSAT imagery
about location of former river courses in the plains and beneath the Thar
desert upto the Rann of Kutch, about existence of paleo-river valleys and
identifying major structural trends (lineaments) in the region.
 In spite of a large volume of such data, the chain of natural events during
the Quaternary period has given rise to different interpretations about the
former river courses.

23. Role of geological survey of india…
 Geophysical surveys carried out by the Geological Survey of India to
assess groundwater potential in Bikaner, Ganganagar and Jaisalmer
districts in western Rajasthan desert areas have brought out several zones
of fresh and less saline water in the form of arcuate shaped aquifers similar
to several paleochannels elsewhere in the state.
 That these subsurface paleochannels belong to ancient rivers
has been confirmed through studies on hydrogen, oxygen and carbon
isotopes ( 2H, 18O, 14C) on shallow and deep groundwater samples from
these districts.
 The isotopic work has also indicated that there is no direct headwater
connection or recharge to this groundwater from present day Himalayas.
 Though the antiquity of these waters and probable links to ancient rivers
are thus established, the subsurface palaeochannel route beneath the desert
sands obtained from hydrogeological investigations, however, differs from
that derived through satellite based studies .

24. Remote Sensing Study
Yash Pal et al. have traced the
paleochannel of this river through
Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.
 They found that its course in these
States is clearly highlighted in the
LANDSAT imagery by the lush cover of
vegetation thriving on the rich residual
loamy soil along its earlier course.
 According to their findings, the river
disappears abruptly in a
depression in Pakistan, instead of
in the sea, an observation shared by a
few others also. But, digital
enhancement studies of satellite
IRS-1C data launched in 1995,
combined with RADAR imagery
(from European Remote Sensing
satellite ERS-1/2) could identify
subsurface features and thus
recognize palaeochannels
beneath the sands of Thar
Desert..

25.  Through remote sensing images numerous paleochannels have been
located that enable experts to trace the migratory course of Saraswati from
the Himalayas through Kurukshetra and Rajasthan to the Rann of Kutch.
 Satellite images have shown a large number of ground faults along
the course of the river that would have drained the waters underground,
sometimes to resurface through another fault.
REMOTE SENSING
Study of drainage pattern through satellite image of February, 2004
and the topomaps of 1969 shows shifting and narrowing down of
Saraswati Nadi between Pehowa and Adi Badri in the last 35 years.

26. Remote sensing for lost saraswati channel

27. SATELLITE IMAGES

28.  BARC also made some amazing discoveries.
 First, the waters tested were potable; second, they derived from
Himalayan glaciers; third, they were between 8000 to 14000 years old;
and finally, the waters were being slowly recharged through aquifers
from somewhere in the north despite the fact that records showed only
very scanty rainfall in the semi-arid region of Marusthali.
 BARC thus confirmed ISRO findings about the river, and this was an
unintended fallout of Pokharan.
REMOTE SENSING EVIDENCE

29.  Late Pleistocene Glaciation:
 Geological record indicates that during the late Pleistocene glaciation, the
water of the Himalayas was frozen and that in the place of rivers, there
were only glaciers.
 It was the first interglacial period in Holocene marking the break-up of
glaciers and release of the pent-up waters that flowed out in seven mighty
river channels Among them, the Saraswati and the Sindhu were major
rivers that flowed from the mountains right up to the sea.
 The diversion of the river water through separation of its tributaries led to
the conversion of the river as disconnected lakes and pools; ultimately it
was reduced to a dry channel bed.
 Therefore, the river Saraswati has not disappeared but only dried up in
some stretches.
GLACIOLOGICAL EVIDENCES

31.  Glaciological studies shows the existence of quartzite and
metamorphic rocks in Paonta Doon valley and near Ad Badri in Siwalik
ranges attesting to the existence of the mighty Vedic Sarasvati river
which had brought in these signature rocks from the Himalayas.
GLACIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
Example: The Markanda river
The pebbles found in the river composed of high grade metamorphic
rocks( i.e 5,500 years old).
The Markanda river today flows only through the sedimentary rocks of
the Siwaliks, the presence of metamorphic pebbles means that in the
past the Markanda river was receiving sediments from the Jutogh
formation of the high crystalline glacial Himalayas.

32. GEOLOGICAL EVIDENCES
The modern quest for the Sarasvati began in the 1970s when American
satellite images showed traces of water channels in northern and western
India that had disappeared long ago
Dr. Vakankar together with Moropant Pingle established the invisible river
route through satellite imagery and archaeological sites along its route. The
Sarasvati project was vetted and cleared by eminent archaeologists and
geologists, and an earnest search for the lost river launched in 1982.
In 1995, scientists of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) found
that water was available in the Rajasthan desert at depths of merely 50 to
60 meters

33. The Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI), Jodhpur, mapped the
defunct course of a river through satellite and aerial photographs and
field studies. It seems to have originated in Kailash Mansarovar and
emerged in the plains at the foothills of the Himalayas Himachal
Pradesh, flowed through the Ghaggar valley in Haryana and the
Rajasthan desert, on to Hakra in the Cholistan desert (Sindh, Pakistan),
before reaching the Rann of Kutch through the Nara Valley and falling off
into the Arabian Sea.
GEOLOGICAL EVIDENCES
Image shows the
origin of
SARASVATI
From KAILASH
MANSAROVAR

34. Pokharan blasts on 11 May
1998, the Isotope Division of
the Bhabha Atomic Research
Centre (BARC) led by Dr. S.L.
Rao took water samples from
800 m deep wells within a
radius of 250 kms. of Pokharan.
Their findings, shows there
was no nuclear contamination
of the ground-waters.
GOOGLE EARTH IMAGE OF
KAPIL MUNISAROVAR AT BADRI,
KAPAL MOCHAN

35. GEOLOGICAL EVIDENCES
Archaeologists from the Shimla Circle did excellent work in 2003-
2004, reporting three sites and a Buddha vihara in Adi Badri alone.
Dr. V.M.k Puri, an expert on Himalayan glaciers, reported finds of
metamorphic rocks on the terraces created by Himalayan glacial
River Sarasvati and proved that Adi Badri was the site where the
river entered the plains from its Himalayan home.
satelliteviewof the
SarasvatiRiverbasin
runningfromthe
HimalayanMountains
to thewestcoastof
India.